A SCATHING column on Gitmo (a MUST-read, imo)

[Spazito]

MIAMI -- Last week Duncan Hunter, chairman of the powerful U.S. House armed services committee, went on TV to rebut charges by Amnesty International that the Bush administration is running "the gulag of our time" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

snip

Not to be underthought, VP Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Don Rumsfeld also rushed to Gitmo's defence. Cheney advanced the masterful thesis that the camp had to be kept open because it held "bad guys." Rumsfeld claimed it must stay open because taxpayers had invested $100 million US to build it and spend $90 million annually to run it.

The Senate majority leader, Republican Bill Frist, added, "to cut and run because of image problems is the wrong thing to do." Brilliant, Bill. In an earlier time, you might have advised: "Mein Fuhrer, ignore all that stupid criticism of our concentration camps. Stand firm!"

snip

The White House says Taliban and jihadi fighters were "illegal combatants" deserving no mercy or legal protection. Then what of the 20,000 plus non-uniformed U.S. and British mercenaries operating in Iraq and Afghanistan as "civilian contractors," and non-uniformed U.S. Special Forces?

more, lots more

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2005/06/19/1095168-sun.html

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Excellent

ABC News revealed the U.S. Navy's general counsel, Alberto Mora, warned in 2003 that interrogation methods used against Muslim prisoners might expose senior officials to "liability and criminal prosecution."

Guantanamo violates the Geneva Conventions, international and U.S. law. There are reports that in the rest of the secret U.S. gulags in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Diego Garcia, even worse crimes are being committed against those suspected of anti-U.S. activities.

If true, this is a criminal enterprise, and those involved should be prosecuted -- starting at the top . . . .

Guantanamo, just 150 km from Miami, is not a problem of image. It is an arrant violation of every American value. It's worthy of KGB. Close this disgrace now.